Our Connected Curriculum

As children move from the end of Foundation Stage they start to work to the guidelines provided by the National Curriculum to provide an appropriate transition into Year 2 and then on through to Year 6 . Our curriculum is planned to make the most of the natural connections between subjects in order to embed the children’s learning in the real world. All areas of the curriculum are covered every term with a focus on progression of skills and attitudes whilst content is flexible to respond to the interests of the children or areas or issues of topical relevance.

Contexts are provided within the local, national or global communities and are reinforced by visits and trips every term and by visitors into school. Our children frequently enjoy visits from drama groups, professional storytellers and musicians. Whenever possible we take learning outdoors into the school grounds, the local environment and to theatres, places of work, museums and places of natural interest and beauty. We want our children to develop outward looking attitudes celebrating similarity and difference between peoples, places, cultures and beliefs, and a love of the creative arts.

We run an annual residential experience for Years 5 and 6, to develop their confidence and independence. Typical venues have included the Quantocks and the Mendips and there is a strong emphasis on outside learning, adventurous activity and team building.

We focus on developing transferable skills of learning like thinking skills, creativity, problem solving and collaboration. We encourage enquiry and challenge children to become independent and active learners who are happy to take risks with their thinking. All classes make use of Philosophy for Children approaches.

English, Language and Communication

Our English curriculum is planned through the National Curriculum. We create opportunities to develop skills in speaking and listening, reading and writing throughout the curriculum so that children can apply them for clear purpose and as key means of communicating ideas and information including through ICT. All children in Key Stage 2 learn to speak and understand French. At Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 children receive strong grounding in phonics and early reading skills.

Mathematical Understanding

Our mathematics curriculum is also planned through the National Curriculum. Wherever possible we create practical opportunities across the curriculum for our children to apply maths skills. We view maths as a fun and creative area of learning that should be readily accessible to all.

ICT

ICT is threaded throughout our curriculum as a key teaching and learning tool and not as a separate subject. We embrace the rapid rate of technological change by constantly updating our hardware and improving the access that all children have to IT across the school day.

Our Assessment and Monitoring Policy

We use accurate and regular assessment of progress to tailor learning to each child’s individual needs. Ongoing daily assessment informs our planning to ensure good progression for every child using learning ladders in reading, writing and maths which are shared with the children. We use the framework of APP (Assessing Pupil Progress) to support the assessment process.

All children in Foundation Stage have ongoing assessment of progress through their daily learning activities to contribute to their end of year Foundation Stage profile.

All children in Year 2 have a summative teacher based assessment of attainment and progress to date that is supported by KS1 SATS (Standard Assessment Tasks).

All children in Year 6 have summative statutory assessment of attainment and progression to date through SATS (Standard Assessment Tasks) in Reading and Maths and teacher assessment in Writing every May.

We encourage children to reflect upon their learning and identify their next steps by involving them fully in the regular self assessment.

In addition to the information contained in the Teaching and Learning Policy, please refer to the class pages (Learning progressions) for more details about the curriculum coverage. More details can be obtained from the school if required.

If you would like more information about our Curriculum please contact the school office.

Welcome

We hope you enjoy looking around our school and meeting us on our website. We want you to see how much we love our school, our church and our village – and we think that’s what makes us special.